Animal Love I
by tin2lo
Summary: Oneshot Going through Taz and Up's relationship from before they even met at her Quinceanera. Sometimes the people we haven't met yet will make the biggest deal in our lives. Taz learns to embrace her inner fearlessness and wills herself to be emotionally naked towards her feelings for her commander. Based on "Animal Love I" by Charlene Kaye


**I have a lot of things that are lined up to be written so if I catch some momentum and inspiration, I may go on an update spree. I just wanted to write this songfic up first considering I already wrote "Animal Love II" (different fandom though). It was just extremely difficult because I didn't know how I wanted to go about it. If I could update as fast as I could reblog, you guys wouldn't be sending me reviews of desperation.**

**My first TUp fic, so please don't be too cruel in the reviews. I absolutely love this ship and I think StarKid is in denial about whether or not these two could be together romantically. I'm pretty sure it's subliminal canon. Anyone else?**

**Disclaimer: The musical "Starship" and everything associated with it belongs to Team StarKid and StarKid Productions. The song "Animal Love I" belongs to Charlene Kaye. Any other quotes/references belong to their respective owners.**

_This crowded room has a hundred ghosts  
But it's your pretty green eyes that please me the most  
I fully know this is dangerous  
But I've never been too good at control  
'Cause when I look at you baby it's like looking straight into the sun  
And I don't wanna look away 'cause I know I'm gonna lose my guns_

Ever since turning the age of thirteen, Taz's madre would always bring up the subject of growing up and liking boys. She brought it up a lot more as Taz's coming of age approached. And Taz wasn't exactly a girly girl like her hermanas but she wasn't one of los Niño's either. Even so, she'd admit she enjoyed fighting before she'd admit thinking of boys.

For the most part, she didn't really care about what kind of guy she was supposed to marry or when she'd have her own familia. All she really cared about was following in her father's legacy. She wanted to traverse the galaxy and explore new lands. She wanted to protect her family and end the robot wars. She wanted to be a Starship Ranger.

It was for this reason that she woke up confused from one of the strangest and yet the best dream she'd ever had…a week before her fifteenth birthday. She wanted to remember it and never let it go. But every time she tried to pull it back up in her mind, the only thing she'd remember clearly were ocean blue eyes. Sometimes she saw the outline of a man much larger than her. But he was just a shadow in front of a blinding white light. Taz knew the light of the sun wasn't something you look straight into, but she couldn't help it, she needed to know who those eyes belonged to.

Sometimes she'd think what kind of person the man was. What if he was a murder? Should she want to know who this man was? He was a complete stranger to her. But then, she'd stop and think and remember that was just a dream. Nothing more. It does not do one well to dwell on dreams.

_Woah go ahead and take my conviction  
Go ahead and take my everything_

_So let your bones show, let your bones show  
Won't have to hide, have to hide hide anymore  
Our Animal Love, Animal Love  
Will be enough to protect the both of us_

As the day of her birthday party neared, the dream would become slightly more clear to her. It also became easier to remember. He was practically a head taller than her. He had a young face but an old soul and the most beautiful eyes that she'd ever seen. He would always have his arm held out for her, inviting her to join him wherever it was he was going. And for some strange reason, she'd always accept. She didn't know what she was doing or who he was but she knew that the feel of his hand holding hers knowing his arm was wrapped around her made her feel safe. Even being around him made her feel as though she had nothing to hide, as though he knew everything there was to know about her already. And for the whole dream, she would just be in his arms as he stared into her soul and her into his. And that was enough.

But all dreams have their end. When she wakes up, the feeling of warmth and something else that she couldn't identify would leave her. As she went about her day, she wouldn't even think twice about her dreams. Not even when her madre brought up the topic of husbands and suitors.

_Crouching low like a jungle cat  
But something tells me I'd be content to be trapped  
One fleeting look and there goes my breath  
But no pleasure comes without consequence_

_Tell me is this for the moment  
Or do you really think we could last  
Boy I really need to know  
Don't have time to be played like that_

Two days before her fifteenth, Taz collapsed onto her bed, exhausted from all of the last minute preparations for the party. She slept a lot less lately due to all of the preparing but when she did get a chance to, her dreams would become more detailed. No longer would it be just her and the mystery man sharing an intimate moment together. Now her dreams would relay scenes that the two of them would go through.

Instead of staring into his eyes, she would watch him in his element. He would crouch low in a hiding spot before tactfully calculating how best to bring down the enemy. She would always be beside him watching. It took her breath away and fascinated her greatly. He was a strong fighter. A soldier maybe? Maybe he was like her father…someone she could look up to. But it didn't feel right. When she was next to him, it didn't feel the same as when she stood beside her father. What she felt for this man was as strong as the love she felt for her father, but somehow it wasn't the same. Maybe it was actual love? But that's impossible. She's never met him. He may not even exist. Besides, even if he did exist, he was a soldier…quite possibly a Ranger…and she was just a simple village girl from Mexico. She was still trying to define her own life. There was no way the two of them would ever work out.

And yet, sometimes Taz couldn't help but hope he was real.

_But suddenly you're reaching for my hand  
And every sturdy brick crumbles to sand_

_So let your bones show, let your bones show  
Won't have to hide, have to hide hide anymore  
Our Animal Love, Animal Love  
Will be enough to protect the both of us_

Everything happened so fast. One moment she was dancing with her eldest hermano, the next she was dangling from a tree watching the rest of her family get slaughtered. How could she be so helpless? Why didn't she do something about it? All she wanted was to tear every single roboto to shreds for what they did to her family. But she wasn't tough. She was a small, weak little girl, who at the moment was being hit around like a piñata by these metal murderers.

She tried to break the bonds that held her but she could feel herself weaken with each hit. And as she watched her youngest Hermana finally fall at the hands of los robotos, she too was ready to just give in to her fate.

Before she had a chance to join her dead family, she was able to make out a hazy vision of someone reaching out for her. Soon she was falling from the tree and into his arms…into the arms of a man with blue eyes. Instantly, she felt safe again before her world went dark.

_Sick and tired of being alone  
Take my hand I don't wanna go home  
I just want a little bit of your ecstasy  
The stars won't know what hit them  
What hit them when they brought together you and me_

Years later, after years of training and studying, battles and space travel, she's at the top of her game. She's one of the toughest son of a bitch rangers, a feared and respected lieutenant…and still in love with the man who saved her when she was fifteen. She knew she hurt him when she didn't take to his advances and it hurt her to ignore them. She wanted nothing more than to connect her lips to his when he hid behind her and kissed her back. But she had a reputation to maintain. She had worked too hard to get where she was and to be respected. Just because his reputation was shot, didn't mean she wanted to go down as well. But she couldn't deny that she loved him. She's loved him for so long…how could she just let that go? No…don't show emotion. Emotion is weakness.

But he proved her wrong. He was still the tough son of a bitch Commander that trained her and saved her in more ways than one. Bug planet had restored her faith in him. Once again, he saved her life. He was still a killer. And deny all they want, they were both still in love with each other. Damn the GLEE rules, damn her reputation. When all the bug world drama was concluded, when Space Claw was finally taken in, and people once again began fearing the dynamic duo, Taz promised herself that if the opportunity arose and fate told her to be with Up…she'd take it.

And when fate had him once again watching _The Karate Kid_ with her, she let him kiss her when his impulsive decision came.

She happily kissed him back.

_So let your bones show, let your bones show  
Won't have to hide, have to hide hide anymore  
Our Animal Love, Animal Love will be enough to protect_

_Our love is all that we got  
And maybe love is enough  
So go on go on go on  
Animal Love come on baby_

It isn't until years after Bug World that she thinks back to what lucky star brought her and Up together. It's rare moments when she sits by the window staring out into the great abyss of stars in their room that she thinks of how far they'd come. She stares at her wedding ring then at her sleeping husband while subconsciously rubbing her swollen belly. It was hard to believe that they'd known each other since she was fifteen.

She never did tell him that she knew him before that. She never told him that she began to need him in her own dreams even before they met. She didn't want to and frankly she didn't need to. Besides, he never told her that it was exactly the same for him.

The love that they had now was more than enough for them both.

_Our love is enough to protect the both of us_

**Hope it wasn't that bad, it's definitely been one of the hardest stories I've written. Sorry if it was a little OOC. I didn't really know how to go about it. There are like five different versions of this songfic so I hope that this approach was okay. According to Charlene, the song is about finding that guy you're not dating yet but feeling like it could be a big deal. So I played off of that. Hope it worked out ok.**

**Review and DFTBA**

**-tin2lo**


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